I'm university student and ntb is meant to be carried almost daily (16" is ok for me), it's mainly for multimedia oriented jobs, some programming in C and Mathematica, some photoshop or even premiere (occasionaly), A LOT of movie watching. I also want it to be futureproof and well-built.

Dell XPS 1645 meets most of my criteria, but there are few things I'm unsure about...1) after reading a couple of reviews and many posts on this forum I'm really doubtful if RGB-LED is worth the extra money. I'm not doing colour sensitive job (however I do sometimes edit RAW images in PS), but i want things on the display to look natural, especially in FullHD movies... (and I'm occasional gamer too)

Those who had honor to work with RGB-LED: would you pay for it in my position???

And just to make sure I haven't overlooked something: biggest DISadvantages of RGB-LED are supposed to be: inaccurate colors, bigger power consumption and some heat produced; while advantages should be: 0,4" gain in size, wider gamut and (maybe) better brightness...

Do you know any more to be added?

2) I'm also considering usual Studio 17 with Core i7 720QM (almost the same config), because it should be cooler, it has numpad and place for additional hdd (I'd buy 80GB intel ssd 34nm for system while keeping stock 500GB for data, I think it's beatiful idea), but what I DISlike about studio 17 is: dimensions, weight, speakers and design (and maybe a bit worse overal built quality).

So which one do you think is better for me?

3) how does combined e-sata/usb work? Since I have a external e-sata drive I have to plug 2 cables at the moment: USB for power and e-sata... With this 2-in-1 port do I need only 1 special cable? Or is it meant to be either/or thing??? From the placement of combined e-sata/usb on the opposite side of ntb than other USBs I'd say that 1 cable should be enough,

After putting up with countless BSOD's and failed harddrives on the Inspiron 1720, they send me a refurbished Studio 1747. Bigger hard drive space, HD screen, and twice the ram are very enticing to keep this machine. But the Inspiron's GPU AND CPU processors are faster (compare Intel Core i7 720QM processor and ATI Mobility Radeon 4650 graphics to the dual 2.0GHz centrino duo nvidia geforce 8600m GT). And I also found it silly that they would include an HD screen but not a blue-ray disc reader. So since DELL told me over the warranty phone line that they would "match the specs of your [my] old computer," should I just keep this or run some benchmarks on some games and figure this out? I don't want to spend more time on this if I have to if it is common knowledge that I got a good ad deal.

i got the Intel X25-M G2 80GB SSD for Christmas, and i'm looking for some help installing it. Mainly, does anyone know where i can get the hard drive caddy that is apparently needed to install a second drive (my 1747 has just one HDD)?

It is an automatic drive. My computer says the bluray drive is working right. Tried right clicking and ejecting and hitting the eject button. It is an automatic slot drive. Tried windows software to find problem and it couldn't work either.¬† It worked just 10 mins before it happened. It is a windows 8 pro OS. HL-DT-ST¬† DVDRWBD CA10N is the drive windows calls it.

i have a dell studio 1747 notebook. now i am facing a problem . while playing games (Hot pursuit, ¬†call of duty etc) after 5 to 10 minutes it Shuts Down but i can do normal works like browsing , office , or some simple softwares etc. then heat increases normally and Shuts Down after 3-4 hours. ¬†

My computer is the dell 1747 Studio Laptop running Windows 7 Professional.¬† It has the built-in Synaptics Touch Pad.¬† When you drag your finger on the far right side of the pa, it auto scrolls through the document on the screen.

I use¬† my Laptop almost exclusively with a remote desktop connection.¬† I process large documents (some as many as 200 pages).¬† If I accidentally drag my hand or finger up or down on the left side of the touch pad, it begins to scroll.¬† Since it is a remote desktop connection, it will not stop scrolling until it reaches the end of the document either up or down.¬† I have to sit and wait for it to finish scrolling before I can use the computer again.

I would like to know how to turn OFF auto scrolling on the touch pad.¬† There is a "wheel" setting in the device setup menu but you can only turn it down to "1" not "zero".

I just bought a Studio 1749 with a Dutch US international keyboard. The US backlit keyboard is the only backlit one and not an option here. The only difference is the missing Ä symbol at key number 5, for which I don't care so much.

Now I'm trying to find the US backlit keyboard at eBay or Amazon without success. Is there a way to find one aftermarket and get it shipped to Europe?

my studio 1747 (not in warranty) (i7 win7),has stopped booting anymore it was working fine till last week ( occasionally my screen does flick in last coupon of month), So when I do turn my system on all upper volumn light flashes from left to right and then right to left and then system turn off itself, during that period screen show no display.

connecting external monitor (TV via hdmi) does work and system boots fine show display on external monitor but no display on system LCD. Something display flicks on external montor also, it happens when my laptop LCD tries to display something (i.e. sometime laptop LCD flicks and sometime it display for few seconds and then go back to Black screen). Also when connect external monitor my mouse pad stops work and sometime works when I connect usb mouse, but when LCD screen start display something, mouse pad also starts work.I tried all stuff, whatever I could find on internet as below¬†¬†

1) Taking battery off and press power button for 1 min.¬†¬† 2)¬† Hold 'D' key and then press power button LCD sometime show some color and then goes back to black.¬†¬† 3) Removed battery and CMOS battery to total drain of charges.¬†¬† 4) Removed keyboard panel and checked LCD display cable and make sure its not loose.

To me it seems like motherboard, graphic card are fine as system is working on external monitor, LCD screen also looks fine as sometime is display and not greying out (its either Black-out or display). As I have also checked cable is properly attached with motherboard, so it can't be loose connection. Don't understand why LCD works sometime.

Just over a week ago there there was an option for WXGA+ display (1440x900) WLED. I was on the verge of buying but I held out for a coupon which I got next day. Problem was the next day the WXGA+ was no longer an option.

I am left with the choice of base WXGA WLED (1280 x 800), the CCFL version of that or WUXGA+ CCFL (1920x1200) @ £100 more. That is too high for me (resolution & maybe price). I really wanted the WXGA+ WLED and am pissed off it has gone

Anyone with knowledge of how dell works have any ideas why they would not be offering it any more or any ideas if it might come back?

Is this the same technology and amazing screen as the XPS Studio 16? Anyone have this screen care to comment? I'm looking for a very bright and high quality screen and the Studio 17 seems like a perfect replacement for my Asus W2V.

I play alot of Rts games and right now i only have a 2.4 ghz witch isnt sufficent for Empire Total War. Is it possible to put a quad in here? I know it voids the warranty but i will put origonal in if i have to make a warranty claim.

I just came back from Best Buy and saw the new Dell Studio 15z (1569) with the Intel Core i5! It's less than 1" thick! Slot load DVD, HDMI, displayport, 3 USB, SD Reader, and matte lid! This one was brown. The best part is the battery! It is no longer in the back like the current dell studio 15/17. It is now flat and thin like the HP Envy's!! It's now underneath the laptop!

Sorry I couldn't take pictures but they just put it out and had a HAND WRITTEN price tag with info! It has the Intel Core i5 420 I think. You really have to see how THIN and SMALL the laptop is! I hope they make a 14"!